Japan gets its first woman PM: Sanae Takaichi shatters glass ceiling

It is an open secret that Japanese society is patriarchal, with deeply entrenched social structures, gender roles, and cultural norms, which limit opportunities for women. The stereotypical idea that is prevalent in most Asian countries, of men being breadwinners and women good wives and mothers, is prevalent in Japan 100, the gender disparities being seen in management and politics, where women have always been woefully underrepresented.

For instance, the Cabinet of the last Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who recently resigned as the President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), had only two female ministers, while only 15% of Japan's current Parliament is female. Thus, there is nothing surprising in the fact that, ever since the nation transitioned in 1947 from a monarchical regime to a Parliamentary democracy, there has been no woman Prime Minister in Japan!

Sanae Takaichi, who has just been voted to be the LDP's next leader, mak ing her Japan's next Prime Minister, has, therefore, broken. Japan's highest glass ceiling!

Despite her signal achievement in becoming the first woman PM of the island nation, since her party and its coalition partner have lost majorities in both chambers of Parliament and are now operating a minority government, Takaichi certainly has her work cut out and it remains uncertain how long her tenure would be.

Despite it being a signal achievement by a woman in a male-dominated society, Takaichi's feat does not necessarily spell any change in the ethos of Japanese society, considering that she is a more far-right pick for the typically centre-conservative LDP, and is taking charge at a moment of increasing calls for the party to reform itself as Japanese voters have increasingly gravitated toward right-wing polit ical movements.

It may be noted that Japan ranks 118th among 148 economies in the World Economic Forum's 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, lagging especially in the political empowerment metric. Observers of Japanese society do not believe that the elevation of Takaichi, a staunch conservative who "behaves like men," and has been compared to former UK Prime Minister and "iron lady" Margaret Thatcher, necessarily foretell a different future for Japanese women.

She does not have a positive track record on gender issues, on family-friendly policies, women's empowerment-in fact, coming as she does from the right wing of the party, she is expected to advocate a strong, conservative family-and-social-values ethos.

However, thanks to the advent of the internet and the rise of social media, there is a perceptible change occurring in the mindset of Japanese women, with the young generation in particular hankering for greater independence of thought and action.

That Takaichi has been able to survive in the patriarchal milieu of Japanese politics for so long makes it certain she must be aware of this changing scenario!